THE MORNINGVERTICAL

On My Mind:

It is striking the degree to which Russian pundits and the Russian media are beginning to wade into the topic of life after Vladimir Putin.

Not so long ago, the topic was practically taboo. It was less than three years ago, after all, when Vyacheslav Volodin famously said that “there is no Russia today if there is no Putin.”

Now, suddenly, we have prominent sociologists like Sergei Belanovsky (in an interview and in a Facebook post, both featured below) proclaiming that “the Putin era is coming to an end” and that “this is an incontrovertible fact which doesn’t depend on how much longer he remains president.”

And suddenly we have the St. Petersburg Politics Foundation publishing rankings of Putin’s potential successors — and major Russian newspapers amplifying them (see stories by Gazeta.ru, Vedomosti, and Kommersant featured below).

It’s all a bit odd given that Putin is widely expected to seek — and all but certain to win — a fourth term in the Kremlin in March.

And it’s odder still given that, despite a growing protest mood in the country and the rise of Aleksei Navalny as an opposition force, there appears to be no clear and present threat to Putin’s rule, at least in the short term.

Russian authorities say Kirill Serebrennikov, a prominent Moscow theater figure who has protested against the government, has been detainedon suspicion of fraud.

Vladimir Putin has appointedAnatoly Antonov, a veteran diplomat who is under European Union sanctions for his role in Moscow’s interference in Ukraine, as ambassador to the United States.

Vladislav Surkov, the Kremlin’s point man for the conflict in eastern Ukraine, made upbeat remarksafter talking with U.S. special envoy Kurt Volker, saying they discussed “fresh ideas” in a “constructive” meeting in Minsk.

Russia says it has settledthe last of the foreign debt it inherited from the Soviet Union when the U.S.S.R. collapsed more than a quarter-century ago.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has upheldlife bans on two former top Russian athletics officials for their parts in a doping scandal.

A top Russian commander has saidthat Moscow and Syrian government forces have made swift progress in the last month driving Islamic State militants from central Syria and a last major stronghold in the east.

WHAT I’M READING

Minsk-Moscow Tension On The Eve Of Zapad-2017

As the Zapad-2017 joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises approach, tension between Minsk and Moscow is rising over a number of issues.

RosBaltand Nezavisimaya Gazetaeach have stories on how Vladimir Putin is publicly pressuring Belarus to export its refined petroleum products via Russian ports, rather than through those in the Baltic states, as Minsk prefers.